Residents of Dubai are urged to spot stray cats and inform the municipality about them. This move comes in a bid to control the increasing number of stray cats in the city.
Reason behind this drive:
According to the Civic Body,
“Stray cats are one of the main reasons for the spread of dirt and filth. Moreover, they also tend
to spread serious diseases as well as spoil the general appearance of the city.”
Here’s what the Civic Body people at Dubai are doing about it:
– Urge people to not feed stray cats and seal garbage bags properly.
– Catch stray cats, vaccinate, and then sterilize them.
– Putting up cages in various parts of the city to catch these cats.
And here’s why they think it’s not working:
“Though we carry on with our regular checks and put up cages at several places to catch them, things don’t improve as there many who feed these cats. As a result, they don’t get into the cages.”
To encourage public cooperation:
Hisham Fahmi, head of the Veterinary Section at the Dubai Civic Body says,
“The civic body has been in the process of controlling the stray cat population, but we need the cooperation of the people. People spotting a cat in their locality can call the municipality toll free (800-900) and a surprise gift awaits them.”
So if you’re in town, go ahead and look around for stray cats. You might just win yourself something exciting. It’s a “surprise” gift. I’m sure you’ll be surprised!
Feline Friends Dubai
This wonderful organization takes in and looks after stray cats. They rescue these cats from the streets and foster them until good, loving and permanent homes can be found.
Feline Friends Dubai, a non-profit making organization, is staffed by volunteers who all have one common goal – to bring relief and care to the feral/stray, domestic and abandoned feline population in the United Arab Emirates.
The Purple Journal 
I guess the surprise gift will be another cat 😉
LOL, or perhaps a free vaccination for the cat you just spotted 😀
hmmm
kinda scares me though
cuz i heard many ppl say in saudi for example, they are killing the strays with poison. they do it here in egypt too, they kill the stray animals. usually with poison and sometimes i heard about them shooting them right there in the street. a lot of arab ppl dont feel about cats and dogs the way others do, cuz they are used to having them outside. like the raccoons and squirrels of the west i guess.
anyway, i dont really know. but i would still be careful. that surprise not be worth it, in the end.
~ I asked around. They don’t want to kill the cats here, rather they vaccinate and sterilize them, and let them go. They are just wanting to prevent spread of diseases that may be spread by infected cats.
But that thing you mentioned: poisoning and shooting stray cats, that’s just not right 😦
Bismillaah
Assalaamu Alaikum!
Maasha Allaah! Cool, I wander what the surprise is, lol. I can’t help but wander if it is for the person to keep the cat as a pet, lol. Alhamdulillaah. I love cats soooo much. I lost my ‘baby’ Fufu a few months ago and been so lonely and sad about it…Alhamdulillaaah Qadr Allaah wama shae fael.
Sincerely & Gratefully
Halimah bint David
~ Walaikum Assalam, Sister Halimah
I’m sorry to hear about Fufu. Have you considered adopting a new kitten? It might help you cope with Fufu’s absence.
Oh, and welcome to my blog 🙂
It’ll probably be a gift voucher to PetSmart (or whatever equivalent of that you have there)
~ plus the cat you just reported to them 🙂
LOL, I hope the ‘surprise gift’ isn’t VERY surprising!
Ee, just as a by note, I hate cats because I’m allergic to them. A pet cat is what gave me asthma in the beginning so well, I would be a top cat turn-in-er if I was in Dubai!
~ I like cats, but can’t keep them. Like yourself, I’m also allergic to cats. That surprise gift is really making me super curious 😀
Its nice that the govt there is dangling carrots instead of showing the stick.
Over here in Singapore, you can be fined for feeding monkeys… pigeons… etc. Actually u can be fined for almost anything, including (the latest hot topic) sleeping at park benches!
~ LOL, here you can’t just sleep on park benches. They’ve planted water sprinklers all over the place, and they just turn on several times during the night 😀
why are there so many stray cats there?
~ There is a certain part in the city where you can spot stray cats. There are a lot of Desi restaurants in this area, where people working in the kitchens would keep garbage cans open and throw in left-overs. But if these cats aren’t sterilized soon, their population could explode at an alarming rate. That’s what these Civic Body people are trying to prevent.
Awwww….i love your colleague’s kitten! It’s so ADORABLE!!
Yes, it sure is the cutest little kitten. Oh by the way, this kitten lives in Boston 😉
Only “meows” in English 😀
The kittyy is so adorable.
Who could say no to giving a home to such a cutie?
🙂
My parents just adopted a stray cat that had been taking up residence on their front steps 🙂 There’s no rewards here though for spotting a cat or taking one in (other then having an adorable member of the family).
HAHA, I can just picture some one “tailing” a cat….
“I spotted a cat…I’m following it now, send all units, I’m at….head west….oh oh…it turned right on ….. “
Haha, how else can one tail a cat and report its actual location to the authorities? 😀
Weel, I just called them up to report 2 stray cats near that keep meowing around my building and mess with the cars parked there, and I was informed that we can only report cats that are found near villas…not buildings………!!!!
so does that mean that I’ll have to shooo the cat to a villa area and then call up the authorities!!!